The Ambivalence toward the Mythic and the Modern: Wu Mingyi's Short Stories

擺盪在神秘與現代之間：吳明益的短篇小說

10.6184/TKR.200812_39(1).0005

Liang-Ya Liou

神秘 ； 現代性 ； 鄉土主義 ； 生態批評 ； 乩童 ； 吳明益 ； 班雅明 ； 廖炳惠 ； mythic ； modernity ； nativism ； ecocriticism ； shamanism ； Wu Mingyi ； Walter Benjamin ； Ping-hui Liao

Tamkang Review

39卷1期（2008 / 12 / 01）

97 - 124

英文

台灣青年作家吳明益擅於刻畫民間信仰與生態視野的懾人力量。在吳明益的作品裡，自然界的儀式和民間信仰的超自然實踐都被連結到與殖民現代性相對的神秘和鄉土。同時，我們也注意到：吳明益在論述台灣自然書寫時，擺盪在神秘與現代之間，而此一曖昧亦是他短篇故事的基調。這讓我想到廖炳惠的「神秘現代」概念。廖炳惠經由研讀班雅明的理論和台灣殖民現代性的歷史而發展出此一理論。雖然「神秘現代」一詞有其問題，廖炳惠的某些洞見卻依然提供了新的視角，有助於我們詮釋台灣的神秘之於殖民現代性的關係。班雅明有關模擬和語言的理論特別能彰顯吳明益短篇小說裡神秘的重要意義及力量。班雅明被視爲探討現代性的理論大師之一，因此他對神秘的興趣常被忽視。於是，重讀他有關模擬和語言的理論也許有助於探索他的這個面向。本文將討論吳明益三篇短篇小說＜虎爺＞、＜廁所的故事＞及＜複眼人＞如何在神秘與現代之間曖昧擺盪，並檢視此一主題如何與吳明益的魔……思考台灣鄉土對殖民現代性的反抗之議題。而讓班雅明的理論與吳明益的小說對話，亦可發現班雅明同樣在神秘與現代之间曖昧擺盪。

This paper is inspired by the power of folk beliefs and ecological concerns in the works of a young Taiwanese writer Wu Mingyi and by the notion of ”mythic modernity” posited by Ping-hui Liao. Both rites of nature and occult practices of folk beliefs are aligned with the mythic and the native and set opposed to colonial modernity in Wu's works. At the same time, one can also see that Wu's very conception of Taiwanese nature writing shows ambivalence toward both the mythic and the modern, and that such ambivalence prevails in his short stories. This leads me to consider Ping-hui Liao's idea of ”mythic modernity.” Liao develops this idea from his reading of Walter Benjamin's theory and the history of colonial modernity in Taiwan. Although the very term ”mythic modernity” is problematic, some of Liao's insights in his theorizing nevertheless shed new light on our interpretation of the mythic in relation to colonial modernity in Taiwan. Walter Benjamin's theory of mimesis and language proves to be especially helpful in bringing out the significance and power of the mythic in Wu's short stories. Since he is viewed as one of the greatest theorists of modernity, Benjamin's interest in the mythic is often ignored; as a result, re-reading his theory of mimesis and language may help explore this eclipsed aspect of Benjamin's oeuvre. This paper intends to discuss the ambivalence toward the mythic and the modern in Wu’s three short stories ”Huyei” (Tiger God), ”Cesuo de gushi” (A Tale of Men's Room), and ”Fuyanren” (A Man with Compound Eyes) and look into the way it is tied to Wu's magic, nativist, and ecological vision. It is my argument that the ambivalence toward the mythic and the modern in Wu's short stories constitutes a rethinking of Taiwan native resistance to colonial modernity, and that in engaging a dialogue between Benjamin's theory and Wu's stories one can see that such ambivalence toward the mythic and the modern is in Benjamin as well.

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